24 July Venice, Louisiana fishing report We have been catching the daylights out of the big "Bull" Redfish around the outside of the passes and bays down river of Venice. Each day you have to locate where the fish are holding. They really are not holding. They are roaming. I often get asked by my clients, " How did you do yesterday?" I tell them how we did, or tell them I had the day off. The truth is that it really doesn't matter, because I change fishing locations almost every day. Sometimes, I try the same area, but Mother Nature will not let me fish the same area too much. Why? Wind. Windy conditions make the Gulf of Mexico rough. I can't put the boat in rough water where we are falling down and throwing up. Fear not, because I know different area to fish around the end of the Mississippi River. If I took a month off from fishing, I would use the same strategy that I use on a daily basis. I would check the conditions on the marine forecast starting a couple of days before the fishing trip. I would check again the night before, then the morning of the trip. Then, after looking into the general weather conditions, I would decide where I know I don't want to fish. I then decide what area I want to fish. We go to the area and work it over. I like it when the fish let you know they are around. I look for fish busting the baitfish and terrorizing and plundering everything in sight-everywhere. Most of the time the Redfish don't do that, so I look for any baitfish, birds hitting the water, current lines, water clarity differences. I look for something different. I do a lot of blind casting to water that looks like all the other water around while drifting. I always want the first spot to be super, but much of the time, we have to figure out where exactly the fish are and what they want. Some of my clients call it "real" fishing. Fishing keeps things interesting and challenging. I have not even mentioned the different crews I have with me to find the fish. All types of folks with different skill levels, and physical mobility. All of my clients have one thing in common: they are good people who want to have a good time fishing. The Mississippi River is not going dry. The river stage in New Orleans is hovering around ten feet above see level. All the river stages up north are on a drop, so I think by mid August we might have the option of fishing in some of the main passes of the river. It doesn't matter, because we are going fishing and catching regardless of the Mississippi River stage, although we can use a wider variety of lures if the water clears up, which is what it does when the river drops. Since my last report I have had folks from Colorado, Texas, Alabama, Michigan, and Tennessee. These folks fished several days with me, and were tired when they left. Especially their arms. They had no complaints, so I guess I did not get them mad at me, which I usually don't. We have caught hundreds of big Redfish the last two weeks. Most of the Redfish have been between 20-25 pounds. Surprisingly, we have only caught a couple over 30 pounds. With those numbers I would have thought we would have had more over 30 lbs. All the big fish have been caught on artificial lures. We have caught the smaller "eating" fish on lures tipped with dead shrimp. Spinnerbaits by the canes have produced "eating" fish as well. If you would like to come down and get in the action, then September, October, November, and December are great months to come down. December is a super month, but I am usually not fully booked because of hunting seasons and it is close to Christmas. Some consider this the best time of the year to come fish Venice. I think any time is good. The Redfish action is as good as any other time, but the Speckled Trout are easier to locate and catch on lures. The weather is not as hot as well. If you would like a fishing vacation, then you might take advantage of our three day-four night fishing package. If you crunch the numbers it is priced right-even if it is just two of you all. Most of my clients go with this package, or if you want to fish longer we create a package. "Create a package guide service" to accommodate you. Give me a call if you want to book for late Summer and Fall trips. Until next time. Maybe I can give you a bad report next time, but I have not had a bad trip since April.